


Every Step

by BrokenBookAddict



Series: Steps Towards You [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, Love, Love Confessions, Male-Female Friendship, Romance, SnowHarry, Snowells, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, post 5x01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 03:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16256189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenBookAddict/pseuds/BrokenBookAddict
Summary: After a talk with Cisco and taking his advice, Caitlin makes a decision and takes a very brave step.Post 5x01.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the Flash, I do however, own any errors found lurking here. (Sneaky little bastards)
> 
> This is a post ep for 5x01. Picks up where we leave Caitlin with Cisco and Ralph in the lounge.

Her hands tremble as she stares down at the death certificate she holds, her eyes and ears disbelieving to what Ralph's just informed her of. Her father is _alive_ , having faked his own death and despite the slowly rising anger at the pain he's caused, the only real question she has is why?... Why would he do this? And she has no answer for it, her guess would be as good as any right now.

Ralph's concern is clear as he looks away from the woman on the opposite side of the counter to Cisco. "I have some things I need to take care of, so I'll catch you later." He pauses, turning his attention back to Caitlin. "You know where I am if you need anything else, Snow cone."  
  
Cisco rolls his eyes at the nickname and makes a shooing motion with his hand, gesturing for Ralph to take his leave like he said. As the other man exits the lounge, Cisco turns his attention to his best friend. Caitlin's still staring down at the paper when he asks quietly, "girl, you okay?"  
  
Caitlin swallows hard against her raging emotions, a torrent of sadness, anger, confusion and despair a jumbled mess inside of her, all fighting to get out. She pushes them all down though, deep down and away because now isn't the time. Carefully as if the paper will disintegrate by being handled to roughly, she folds it and slides it back into the envelope it came out of. Walking around the counter, she climbs up onto one of the many red bar stools, braces her elbows on the counter and buries her face in her hands.  
  
Cisco reaches over and touches her arm gently, offering her whatever comfort he can. "I'm sorry," he says quietly.  
  
"For what?" Comes the muffled words.  
  
"For this. For what you went through as a kid, grieving for your dad and now to know it was for..."  
  
"Nothing," she finishes for him, dropping her hands from her face. "It was for nothing. I lost my dad, I was devastated and it broke what was left of our family apart." Caitlin shakes her head, letting out a humourless laugh. "Lately it just seems to be one thing after another, piling up. First I lose Killer Frost, then the vibe to my childhood then Harry leaves and now this... I just-- what's next?"  
  
Cisco's brows furrow in confusion at her ranted words or more practically a certain part. "Caitlin, what's Harry got to do with anything?"  
  
The drama with her dad disappears momentarily, his words hitting her and she freezes. What had she just said? "What are you talking about?" She questions back instead, hoping to deflect for a moment to gather herself and her thoughts.  
  
"You said things are piling up, losing Frost and the vibe but you also mentioned Harry leaving. What's up with that?"  
  
Okay, so obviously she hadn't meant to say that but now it's out there in the open and Cisco's staring her down waiting impatiently for some kind of answer. And what answer can she possibly give, certainly not the truth especially when she's only just come to terms with it herself. Well the label of it at least, _love_ , because that's what she now knows it to be. Before there had been a denial of what she was feeling and it hadn't been until she had seen Harry start to deteriorate that it had hit home, _hard_. She is in love with him. Something that had been made all the more clearer when she had seen him walk away, his mind restored and off he went, back to Earth two. She still remembers how her stomach had dropped as he disappeared around the doorway. It made for another one thing she had to carry, her heart a heavy burden along with everything else.  
  
"Caitlin?"  
  
"It's nothing, don't worry about it." Even as she tells him she can see her words have absolutely no effect.  
  
"But I do worry, that's what friends are for. To be here when you need them, to talk and to get drunk."  
  
Caitlin smiles at him. "The last thing you need is more alcohol."  
  
"Amen to that," he replies looking down at the coffee machine. He starts to fiddle with some buttons again. "So, tell me. What's going on with Harry? Beside it'll do you good to focus on something other than that." He taps his finger on the envelope in front of her.

Despite her own reservations and despite not being ready for this conversation, she does as he asks. "Things had been different for awhile--"  
  
"Different how?" He cuts in, a triumphant look on his face as the coffee machine finally starts to do it's thing.  
  
"Just different, I started to notice at Christmas and then more so as time went by. I didn't want to label it but when Harry started to deteriorate, I realised how much time had been wasted and I finally admitted it to myself."  
  
The coffee machine's long forgotten, Cisco's attention focused on the woman on the opposite side of the counter. "Admit what?"  
  
Now or never, she thinks. "That I love him." There, it's out, she's finally said it out loud.  
  
"That you..."Cisco falters, completely shocked. "What?"  
  
Caitlin lowers her voice, knowing the others are only across the lounge. "I've fallen in love with Harry."  
  
Cisco closes his eyes, lifting his hands to his head. "I think I'm still drunk."  
  
A scowl appears on her pretty face as she takes offence at his words. "Why are you reacting like it's the strangest thing in the world?"  
  
He drops his hands and looks at her. "It isn't that," he tells her. "It's the fact that it's taken you this long to realise and admit it."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
Cisco laughs, then winces slightly. "Damn I need coffee," he mutters, watching impatiently as his cup fills. "I'm your best friend, you're the closest thing I have to a sister and I saw the way you looked at him."  
  
Her heart warms at his words. "Why didn't you ever say anything?"  
  
"I figured you'd come to me when you were ready."  
  
Caitlin nods, dropping her eyes to the envelope before her, fingers tracing the edges absently. A smile is sent to her friend in thanks when he slides her coffee over. Her thoughts are all consuming and she tries not to get dragged under by them. "I don't know what to do."  
  
"About Harry?"  
  
A nod is all the answer she offers, her eyes now on her coffee, watching the steam rise up from the cup.  
  
"There's only one thing you can do and that's talk to him."  
  
She looks up at him, like he hasn't realised the obvious. "He's on another earth."  
  
"And?"  
  
"And I can't just go to Earth two and confess my love for him."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Cisco! Be serious."  
  
"I am. What's really stopping you?" He asks quietly, looking at his friend and he can see exactly what it is. "It's okay to be scared, it's a big step but Caitlin--" Cisco reaches over to cover her free hand. "It's a step you need to take if you love him."  
  
And his words make perfect sense and hold such an honest truth. She knows he's right and deep down she wants to do this, take that step. So with a shaking hand she takes a sip of her coffee before giving her friend a nod. "Right, let's do this."  
  
Cisco almost drops his mug in surprise. "What, now?"  
  
"Yes now. If I don't do it now I'll over think it and come up with a thousand reasons why not to." She pushes the envelope in front of her across to her friend. "Can you keep this safe for me? And open a breach?"  
  
"Uh... yeah sure." For Cisco's still slightly drunken hazy mind, this situation is developing all to quickly and he's having trouble keeping up. "Right, a breach." He nods more to himself, lifting his hand and opening a portal to Earth two star labs. "When you exit the breach room, head down the hall to you left, you'll find Jesse's team set up there, she'll get you to where ever Harry is."  
  
"Right, cos he might not be at the lab." She murmurs to herself before sending her friend a grateful smile. "Thanks Cisco."  
  
He gives her a salute. "Anytime," he says as she disappears into the breach.  
  
"What was that?" Barry asks as the breach closes after Caitlin, stepping down from where the others are sat. "Where's she going?"  
  
Cisco freezes as every set of eyes suddenly bear down on him. "She uh..." but as he falters to come up with some kind of an explanation, Nora steps in.  
  
"She's gone to Earth two, to Uncle Harry."  
  
"Uncle Harry?" Barry repeats in disbelief turning to his daughter, "what?"  
  
And Nora's just about to open her mouth again, probably to reveal something she shouldn't when Cisco quickly raises his hand causing her to halt. "You'll find out soon enough."  
  
Tbc....


	2. Out of The Breach

Stepping out of the breach on the other side that is now the Star labs of earth two, Caitlin takes a moment to steady and centre herself. It's one thing to travel through a short breach throughout Central City to take down the latest big bad but it's an entirely different experience to travel to another earth.  
  
When the moment she needs passes and she's steady once more on her feet, Caitlin takes in the room she now finds herself in. It's not that much different to the breach room at home, the layout is a little different granted and it's lit similarly with low lighting but it's the hum of the building itself that is the biggest change. Whereas on earth one, the Star labs there holds a certain eerie vibe, a vast majority of the rooms lying empty and abandoned, the only occupants being that of team flash and their acquaintances to roam the many halls. Here though, despite the breach room being quiet and almost shrouded in darkness, outside of the closed door, the movement of the many workers going about their daily jobs could be heard.  
  
In a way, it's something she misses. The daily hustle and bustle of the endless hallways, the many techs in the labs as she walked by. That's not to say she doesn't appreciate the atmosphere the lab now holds or the work that they do, far from it.  
  
But she isn't here for a chance to reminisce. She's here to see Harry.  
  
"This is indeed strange... I was just thinking about you and here you appear."  
  
The voice startles her, low and rough, sounding from her right. Turning to look, she's surprised by what she finds. Harry is sat to her right, on the floor leaning back against the wall. By his side is a bottle, in his hand a half empty glass.  
  
"That is if you're even real? Are you real, Snow?"  
  
The words reach her and she frowns, wondering just how much he's had to drink. "Why wouldn't I be real?"  
  
"Who knows? Maybe hallucinations are a side effect of my newly restored mind. Why else would you be here?"  
  
Caitlin steps down off the breach platform and continues down the steps. Moving towards him, she stops a few feet away and looks down at him. His appearance isn't much different than that of when he'd left. Dressed still the same rather like herself, the only difference being the day old stubble along his jaw from where he'd clearly not shaven since he's returned.  
  
Harry stares back, head tilted to the side as he considers her.

"What are you doing down here?"

"I wanted some quiet."  
   
His behaviour and the intensity in which he's looking at her, leaves Caitlin feeling unsure. "Harry," she says softly, "are you okay?"  
  
The man on the floor shrugs, taking a sip on the amber liquid within his glass. "What brings you here?" he questions instead, "it's been barely--" he stops to look at his watch. "A day and half, has things fallen apart that quickly?"  
  
A soft snort of amusement escapes her, because yes, yes it has. "You'd be surprised."  
  
"Well, in any case I'm afraid I can't help you." He lifts his free hand to tap the side of his head. "My mind isn't what it once was." He drops his eyes from her and finishes what's left in his glass.  
  
Caitlin just watches him for a moment, her worry slowly rising at his behaviour. She hadn't anticipated this scene to be what greeted her when she stepped out of that breach, well, if she's really honest she didn't know what to expect. She hadn't thought this through, the only decision made was to come here and talk to him before she managed to talk herself out of it. And now here he is, right in front of her and clearly, not okay. Closing the gap between them, she makes to sit down beside him on the floor.  
  
"What are you doing?" he asks, even though it's obvious. "You'll ruin your dress."  
  
"Sitting with you and don't worry about the dress," she tells him as she lowers herself to the floor, bumping her shoulder with his. "What's going on with you? You seemed fine before you left."  
  
"And I was, I mean...I thought I was. I had my mind restored and I've been given... this balance, which I'm grateful for of course but I..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I came back here, saw Jesse and we talked. It was good, really good but now I just... what am I supposed to do now, Snow?"  
  
The helplessness in his voice breaks her heart and the lost look on his face doesn't help either.  
  
"I don't know what to do anymore."  
  
Caitlin turns slightly to face him more, watching as he refills his glass before replacing the bottle with a dull thud on the floor. She's surprised when after he takes a sip he offers her the glass which she takes with a grateful smile, her fingers brushing his as he passes it to her. A little Dutch courage. It's also very intimate, sharing his glass, a thought she tries to push away and ignore.  
  
"It's okay to feel like this, Harry. You've experienced a great change, it'll take time to get used to it."

"It's know, I just... I want to be the best father I can be to Jesse but she has her own life, with her own team around her. Outside of my role as a father, what else is there? My seven PhD's are useless, I know and understand things to a certain level but... I can't work like I did before."  
  
Caitlin's eyes fill with tears, seeing clearly the extent of how he feels. This open and honest Harry is certainly an eye opener but he's still Harry. "Maybe you're right, maybe you can't work like you did before but it doesn't have to be a bad thing?" She shrugs lightly, passing him back the glass. "After what you went through, it's okay to take time to evaluate and find your footing. To decide what's next."  
  
Harry rolls his head along the wall towards her, his eyes finding hers.  
  
There's a flash of something in his gaze before it's gone but it's the lost look in his eyes that weigh down on her heart. Not really thinking of what she's doing, she reaches out and traces her fingertips over his forehead. "So you may not be able to achieve what you did before? So what? There's a number of other things you can do because you're Dr Harrison Wells, a man with a brilliant and beautiful mind, one of the brightest in the multiverse..." her fingers trail down his face until she's cupping his face in her hand tenderly. "You're still the same man you were before."  
  
Unconsciously, Harry leans into her touch. "You really believe that?" His voice betrays the vulnerability he feels.  
  
"I do," she reassures him quietly, "There's no rush Harry, there's no time limit for you to figure all this out."  
  
Harry nods, dropping his eyes away from hers briefly. "I'm sorry you had to stumble upon my little pity party."  
  
It's at that point she remembers something from earlier. She drops her hand away from his face to his arm, her touch a soft caress. "You mentioned early when I got here, that you'd been thinking about me?" Almost immediately she feels under her touch as well as sees him tense.  
  
"Oh... that doesn't matter."  
  
But she has a feeling it does. "Harry?" She squeezes his arm, trying to get him to look at her and failing miserably. "Why were you thinking about me?"  
  
He refuses to meet her gaze, eyes instead focused upon the swirling amber liquid held within his glass. "I told you it doesn't matter."  
  
"I think we both know it does."  
  
Her words finally make Harry look up, his stunning blue eyes despite a little hazy from the drink he's consumed, lock onto her. He stares at her, searching her eyes for something, what she has no idea. Neither does she know whether he finds what he's looking for. "Why did you come here?" Is his response instead.  
  
Caitlin can't expect honesty from him if she's not willing to give it herself. So she tells the truth. "I've been thinking about you," she tells him honestly, using his own words against him. "I had a talk with Cisco and it made me take... the next step."  
  
"The next step towards what?"  
  
Now or never because this is why she came here. "You," she whispers almost breathlessly. "Somewhere along the way, I've fallen in love with you, Harry." There it's out there, that heavy weight upon her heart has now lifted bringing with it a sense of relief. Though that does nothing to drown the nervousness that's rising within her.  
  
"You..." Harry falters, to say he's caught of guard would be an understatement. He stares at her and all he sees back is what her words confirm. A heaviness feels like it's crushing down upon his chest, like he can't breath. Here's this beautiful woman sat next to him, telling him she loves him and it can't come at a worse time. "No," he shakes his head, closing his eyes. "You can't... I mean-- I'm not good enough for you Caitlin."  
  
But Caitlin shakes head adamantly, pushing down her emotions. "You don't get to make that decision, that's for me to decide."  
  
"But I..."  
  
Her fingers stop his words, pressing against his lips. "No. I love you for who you are, from what's in here," she says placing her hand over his heart before rising to run her fingers through his hair, until she's cupping the back of his head. "To what's up here."  
  
"Caitlin," he whispers. The way he says her name low and rough, sounding almost like he's going to cry but he doesn't.

He doesn't and she's trying so hard herself not to let her own tears spill over. "It's been so _hard_ lately, so many things happening and I just... I want something _good_ in my life, Harry... I want that to be you, I want you."  
  
Harry bites his lip, looking like he's wrestling something within himself. He sighs heavily, "are you sure?"  
  
She pulls him closer until her mouth is barely hovering his. "I'm sure," her lips brush against his, almost ghosting over.  
  
Harry exhales into her kiss. "I was thinking about you," he mutters against her mouth. "I'm always thinking about you." His hand takes hold of her chin and tilts her head, then he's kissing her. Slowly at first he moves his mouth over hers, his hand moving from her chin to cup her face as he deepens the kiss. His kiss getting a little more demanding when his tongue meets hers as he tastes her. Caitlin couldn't stop the whimper that escapes into his mouth even if she wanted to, her hands falling to his chest and fisting his sweater there. Eventually and regretfully with a groan, the kiss ends and Harry rests his forehead against hers.  
  
They stay like that for awhile, wrapped up in each other, exchanging soft stolen kisses and just enjoying the new found closeness between them.  
  
"We should move," Caitlin finally whispers, breaking the silence and the bubble they found themselves in.  
  
"Yes," Harry agrees readily. "I need to speak with Jesse and to pack."  
  
"Pack?" She really tries really hard not to get her hopes up for what that means exactly.  
  
Harry nods, leaning forward to kiss her quick. "Apart from Jesse, I don't really have anything keeping me here. And what you said before, about wanting something good in your life? I want that too... with you and if I can help the team in whatever capacity I can, I'd like that." He shrugs, "if HR could be of use, then there's hope for me yet."  
  
Caitlin punches his arm. "Don't joke. I told you before, the team doesn't feel complete without Harrison Wells... and neither do I."  
  
"That's... incredibly sappy Snow."  
  
She pulls him towards her suddenly, her lips on his. "It's true," she utters between kisses.  
  
Harry pulls away. "Right enough of that," he tells her, trying to be serious. "Jesse and pack." Reminding her of the plan.  
  
"Right," she nods getting to her feet. Reaching down, she pulls him up. "And then we can go home?"  
  
Harry pulls her into him. "Yes, then we can go home." He smiles at her before taking her hand, leading her out of the room. And despite knowing what lies ahead for both of them, Harry adjusting to a new life without his super high intelligence and all of the drama with Killer Frost and now with the revelation regarding her father.... it seems so much easier to look ahead now that they have each other.

And as they leave, the door falling shut softly behind them, the only evidence of their presence and his pity party, is the abandoned whiskey bottle and glass that remains behind on the floor of the breach room.  
  
The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was requested and I hope I delivered. Thank you for reading. Any thoughts? More Snowells soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Well now, here we are, another season and another post ep fic. Thank you for reading. Thoughts?? More Snowells soon. :)


End file.
